Gardee family opens court bid to have murder case transferred to the Hawks

The Gardee family says it has launched a court application to force the police to do its work in bringing to book all people responsible for the kidnapping, robbery and murder of Hillary Gardee.

Hillary’s body was found next to a pine plantation 40km outside Mbombela on May 2.  She was kidnapped in the town on April 29 while travelling home with her adopted three-year-old daughter.

The family said the urgent application, filed before the high court in Pretoria on Tuesday, seeks to have the case docket transferred to the Hawks. They said the application stems from numerous family efforts to help the police but in vain — allegedly because of dismal failures by the detective unit of the police.

“Now that the prosecution has announced additional charges of conspiracy to murder, the case assumes all the hallmarks of an organised crime for which investigations reside in (the) competence of the Hawks,” the family said in a statement.

The family said the record of delays and incompetence exhibited by the detective unit, including but not limited to the elbowing out of crime intelligence services and keeping the family in the dark, was “treasonous to say the least”.

The family said the legal team intends to apply for an in-camera hearing due to the sensitive evidence alluded to in the papers, in relation to the suspects whom the detectives had chosen to drag their feet in investigating.

“This delay has a potential risk of evidence destruction and defeating the ends of justice,” the family said.

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